Newcastle law firm Muckle LLP is toasting rising turnover and profits on the back of its successful deals activity.
The Gallowgate-based firm has reported an increase in income and profit for year ending March 2019.
Muckle employed an average of 149 people in the year, up from 125 the year before, taking on 20 new fee earners and four more support staff to bring the wages bill up from 拢5.35m to 拢5.99m.
Turnover jumped 15% from 拢11.3m to 拢13.05m, with profit for the financial year available for discretionary division among members rising from 51% 拢1.9 to 拢2.8m.
Managing partner Jason Wainwright attributed the rise in revenue to the company鈥檚 continued high level of deal activity, combined with organic growth across the rest of the firm that has followed investments in people which started in the previous financial year.
Mr Wainwright said: 鈥淲e have had another successful 12 months, delivering a second consecutive year of double-digit growth in turnover and profit.
鈥淲e have also made improvements in internal efficiency and IT investment which has delivered an improvement to profit and we continue to actively manage our overheads.
鈥淲hile the economic climate remains uncertain, we are confident that we are well placed to be the business law firm of choice for the North East, and already we have made a strong start to the 2019/20 financial year with revenue up versus a year ago, some significant tender wins and several large deals completed and in progress.
鈥淲hile the uncertainty of Brexit remains and the legal market in the region is competitive, we believe that our down-to-earth approach and focus on improving efficiency, combined with a workplace culture that attracts and supports the most talented people in delivering the very best client experience possible, set us up for continued success.鈥
He said that the firm, which worked on the 拢100m-plus buyout of Hadrian Healthcare earlier this year, is committed to bringing and retaining top talent in the North East, resulting in seven partner promotions at the end of the 2018/19 financial year.
鈥淚nvestors In People (IIP) have also just extended our Gold status and Health and Wellbeing accreditation until 2022, after the latest survey revealed that 92% of our people agreed Muckle is a great place to work,鈥 he said.
鈥淚n fact our IIP assessor commented that we were one of the best businesses he鈥檇 ever seen and that, compared with other law firms of our size, our scores rank third in the world, which is an amazing achievement.
鈥淥ur previous investments into our people and new areas of work to consolidate our full service offering to clients are starting to deliver results, with our new agriculture team and expanding private client team positively contributing to top and bottom line growth.鈥
Mr Wainwright said the company鈥檚 investment into IT solutions continues, with new products being developed that are almost ready for market.
The accounts also highlighted the work the company does within the local communities, saying: 鈥淲e continue to place great emphasis on supporting our local communities, both through a significant amount of volunteering and free legal advice our people regularly undertake for charitable causes, and through grants from the Muckle Fund at the Community Foundation, which receives 1% of our annual profits each year.
鈥淒onations from the firm鈥檚 profits made in 2018/19 mean we have now given over 拢500,000 to local charitable causes since we started our fund, which has made a real difference in lots of communities across the region.鈥
